The origin of chickens and their evolutionary history

Chicken, known as Deqin in ancient times, is also known as Zhuye. Although it is a small bird among poultry, it is one of the "elders". Since ancient times, people have had a deep affection for chickens. Chen Youzi of the Qing Dynasty spoke highly of chickens in his book "Flower Mirror", saying that chickens have "five virtues: a crown on the head, a symbol of literature; a three-legged fighting distance, a martial art; fighting when encountering an enemy, a symbol of bravery; and being brave when encountering food." Calling the group is benevolent; keeping vigil at night is a sign of trust."

The ancestor of the domestic chicken is called jungle fowl. The jungle fowl has a light body and can fly. Roosters like to perch in trees and sing. They are distributed in the South Asian subcontinent from Pakistan eastward to the Indochina Peninsula, and as far south as Java Island and Sumatra Island. They are distributed in my country's Yunnan Province, Guangxi Province and Hainan Island. Chicken bones were also found at the Yangshao Cultural Site in Banpo, Xi'an more than 6,000 years ago. It was identified as a bird of the genus Jungle Fowl. This shows that birds of the genus Jungle Fowl were also distributed in the Yellow River Basin at that time. The transformation of jungle fowls into domestic chickens is the result of human beings taking advantage of biological variability and purposefully selecting and domesticating them according to different needs.

It is a recognized fact that Asia was the earliest country in the world to domesticate chickens. my country is one of the first countries in the world to raise chickens. In the past, some people believed that domestic chickens in our country were introduced from India. This is wrong. In addition to Banpo, Shaanxi, chicken bones were also found in the late Neolithic site of Miaodigou, Sanmenxia, Henan, dating back 4,000 years. In addition, Chinese archaeologists also discovered pottery chickens in Qujialing, Jingshan County, Hubei Province (about 5,000 years ago). This shows that our country began to raise chickens more than 5,000 years ago. In Yunnan, Guangxi, Hainan Island and other places in my country, there are still traces of jungle fowl, maintaining their wild habits. Therefore, it should be considered that the origin of domestic chickens was at least successfully domesticated in my country and India at the same time.

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